Friday, August 7, 2009

THANK YOU

A HUGE thank you to everyone who supported Peachtree Publishers' first blog tour! We couldn't do it without these wonderful bloggers:

5 Minutes for Books

http://www.5minutesforbooks.com/

A Year of Reading

http://readingyear.blogspot.com/

The Picnic Basket

http://www.thepicnic-basket.com/

Maw Books Blog

http://blog.mawbooks.com/

Children’s Book Biz News

http://asuen.wordpress.com/

Books Upon a Wee One’s Shelf

http://www.booksuponaweeonesshelf.com/

A Patchwork of Books

http://apatchworkofbooks.blogspot.com/

I.N.K. Interesting Nonfiction for Kids

http://inkrethink.blogspot.com/

Hope is the Word

http://hopeistheword.wordpress.com/

New Post! Hope is the Word Blog

Our final blog tour Post! Check out Hope is the Word here:

Thursday, August 6, 2009

PW Children's Bookshelf coverage of 14 Cows for America

PW Children's Bookshelf Article: A Gesture of Generosity Inspires Picture Book


New Post! I.N.K.: Interesting Nonfiction for Kids Blog

Check out Gretchen Woelfle's review of 14 Cows for America and her Q&A with Carmen here on the I.N.K. Interesting Nonfiction for Kids Blog:

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

New Post! Books Upon A Wee One's Shelf

Check out Cindy of the Books Upon a Wee One's Shelf blog's take on 14 Cows for America in her new blog tour post:

New Post! A Patchwork of Books Blog

New blog tour post from Amanda at A Patchwork of Books blog:

http://apatchworkofbooks.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Cookie Magazine Twitter Giveaway

Cookie Magazine is giving away copies of 14 Cows for America this week. Follow @cookiemagazine on Twitter for details!

The magazine has a great review of 14 Cows for America up on their site:

http://www.cookiemag.com/entertainment/reviews/book/2009/07/14-cows-america

This astonishing new picture book tells the incredibly moving true story of a small Masai village in Kenya whose residents banded together to send aid to America in the aftermath of 9/11. The book never dwells on the details of the disaster, nor do the strikingly realistic paintings depict anything associated with the terrorist attacks. In fact, the residents of the village in which this story is set only hear about the events through word of mouth. This is a story about the spirit of goodwill and the best parts of the human spirit–that's just as affecting for adults as it is for kids. —Ages 7 and up


Blog Tour Continues with Children's Book Biz News

Children's Book Biz News covers 14 Cows for America. Post includes lesson idea for teachers:

Monday, August 3, 2009

The Picnic Basket Blog

Next stop on the 14 Cows for America blog tour,
The Picnic Basket Blog, the blog for "librarians, teachers and other gluttons for good books"!
http://www.thepicnic-basket.com/


14 Cows for America Twitter Contest!

We're giving away some great 14 Cows prizes on our @thefourteencows Twitter this week! 1 Grand Prize winner will receive a Carmen Agra Deedy prize pack, and 5 runners up will receive a hardbound copy of 14 Cows for America.

Here's how it works:

  1. You must have a Twitter account to participate. If you don't have one, click here to sign up for a free Twitter account. No purchase necessary.
  2. 2. From your Twitter Account, follow us @thefourteencows.
  3. 3. Once you are following us, then simply tweet any message containing both "#14cows" and "@thefourteencows" between August 3rd at 12:00PM EST and August 7th at 5:00PM EST to be entered in the contest. A maximum of 10 tweets per day will apply towards the contest entries. Multiple retweets will increase your chances of winning. Winners will be selected randomly. Check out our Contest Rules for more information.

Happy tweeting!

P.S. while you are at it, follow Peachtree Publishers at @peachtreepub !

Bonus Blog! Nonfiction Monday Round up on SLJ's Practically Paradise

Every week, School Library Journal's Practically Paradise blog does a Nonfiction Monday round up of what's happening in children's non-fiction across the kidlitosphere. Today, Anastasia Suen's post about 14 Cows for America is one of the featured posts:

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/830000283/post/1300047330.html

You can see Anastasia's post directly here:


AND you can see Practically Paradise's coverage of 14 Cows for America from last week here:


Stay tuned for Anastasia's post tomorrow on her Children's Book Biz News Blog tomorrow!

Maw Books Blog Review of 14 Cows for America

The blog tour continues with another incredible review, this one from Natasha at Maw Books:
http://blog.mawbooks.com/2009/08/03/14-cows-for-america/

Publishers Weekly review of 14 Cows for America out today

14 Cows for America Carmen Agra Deedy with Wilson Kimeli Naiyomah, illus. by Thomas Gonzalez.Peachtree, $17.95 (36p) ISBN 978-1-56145-490-7

A native of Kenya, Naiyomah was in New York City on September 11, 2001. In Deedy's (Martina the Beautiful Cockroach) lyrical account, he returns to his homeland and tells the members of his Maasai tribe a story that had “burned a hole in his heart.” The narrative avoids specifics and refers to the events of 9/11 obliquely as the villagers listen to him with “growing disbelief”: “Buildings so tall they can touch the sky? Fires so hot they can melt iron? Smoke and dust so thick they can block out the sun?” Until they read Naiyomah's concluding note, children may not fully comprehend either his story or the villagers' subsequent actions: the tribe elders bless 14 cows, revered in Maasai culture, and symbolically offer them to the American people to help them heal. Featuring luminous images of the Maasai in vivid native dress and sweeping African landscapes, Gonzalez's pastel, colored pencil and airbrush paintings appear almost three-dimensional in their realism. A moving tale of compassion and generosity. Ages 6–10. (Aug.)

Saturday, August 1, 2009

5 Minutes for Books Blog

The blog tour kicks off today with a nice review from 5 Minutes for Books:

Wall Street Journal

A lovely review from the Wall Street Journal today:

Of all the expressions of consolation sent to a grieving America after 9/11, perhaps none was as poignant as the gift of 14 cows from Maasai tribesmen in a remote corner of Kenya. How the offering came about is the subject of this moving and dramatically illustrated picture book for children ages 6-12. It is based on the experiences of a young medical student named Kimeli, who was studying in America at the time of the attacks and brought news of them back to his native ­village the following spring. In the opening pages of “14 Cows for America” we see Kimeli striding across the grassland in his red Stanford University jacket. There is rejoicing at his return, but the youth comes with a story that “has burned a hole in his heart.” As the tribe gathers under an acacia tree, Kimeli describes the horror that struck so far away: “With growing disbelief, men, women, and children listen. Buildings so tall they can touch the sky? Fires so hot they can melt iron?” As Kimeli talks, illustrator Thomas Gonzalez depicts his narrative as a kind of swirling fire overhead. After the young man finishes, there is silence—and resolve. The Maasai, author Carmen Agra Deedy tells us, “are fierce when provoked, but easily moved to kindness when they hear of suffering or injustice.” The villagers request a visit from the American ambassador, who duly comes and is stunned to be met by hundreds of Maasai “in full tribal splendor,” with scarlet tunics and majestic beaded collars—and their unexpected gift. (The ­“sacred and healing” cows, we learn, remain in the Kenyans’ care; the original herd of 14 has since grown to 35.) The final pages show the grave face of a young tribesman. Reflected in his pupil we see the book’s only image of the burning Twin Towers; beside him we read (possibly through tears) the concluding words: “Because there is no nation so powerful it cannot be wounded, nor a people so small that they cannot offer mighty comfort.”

—Meghan Cox Gurdon